Tuesday 26 January 2016

When Santa's helper left his hat

It is a very well known fact in my crochet group that I Absolutely Do Not Like any form of toilet crochet.

Not toilet seat covers, not lid covers, not matching sets covering each and every object in the bathroom, not those dolls with their Spanish dresses covering a toilet roll, nothing.  I do not promote it, when it appears I cower in a corner until it has moved down the Timeline, and otherwise I try to promote beautiful, modern crochet.
(Yes...I know, but - my group, my taste etc.)

But then I made this:


Seems there's an elf about...

I know!! Bless my soul, a toilet roll cover In My Own Guest Loo!!

Okay, so I saw similar somewhere on the web, browsed past, but obviously it stuck in the back of my mind although I never went back, and I was putting up Christmas decorations all over the house, inside and out, and I thought, what the heck, let me ride this idea and make Prettier Toilet Crochet. 


Start with...a starting chain

Didn't have the pattern link, so I had to wing it.  Starting out with a base chain that would ensure a semi-snug fit around my roll of toilet paper.  Single crochet from there. I hooked quite a wide band of white, as I want to fold it over resembling a furry edge to the hat.


Onwards with the hat

Once I though it would be wide enough to double over, I continued with red, until as least a few rows taller than the toilet roll.


Now I had to shape this thing, with no idea how.  Some decreasing of stitches had to be done, and the first attempt (reducing one stitch every second row) left me with a veeeeeeery long, pointy hat - no good.  A decrease in every row resulted in a hat too short.  So in the end...it was every one-and-three-quarters of a row.  #exasperated

As I was going in the round as per amigurumi and not really counting, I marked the last spot with white, more or less went one and three quarters around before decreasing again...


White yarn marks the last spot

...until it was done and I folded over the white and then had to do something to the pointy bit, and I didn't want to make a pompom, when happily these appeared in a kitchen drawer of all places:


Jingle Bells :-)

And off the hat went, to spend Christmas in the guest loo, with all kinds of funny and quirky and pretty, Anneke's doily rug and my mom's potty (for used hand towels),  my poetry collection and cartoons, a 1994 voter's letter and some pretty pictures, my gran's frame repainted and a Moroccan wire shelf.

That's a beaded wire scorpion on the floor.


Toilet crochet, but prettier

Until the next project!  

Which might be green and orange...roll on Paddy Day?

Sunday 17 January 2016

On the hook, at last, and randomising stripes



After nine long weeks of enforced hooky rest, the result of intense Elise Shawl-hooking, there are small signs of a recovering shoulder/elbow.  Let me not count my yarn balls too quickly, though!

So I'm slowly picking up work again, and first priority is my little one's Tommie-blanket, a summer throw for his bedroom.  Just a few rows at a time, so as not to overwork the fragile right arm ;-)


One row, and another...

Immediately I was asked about my random colours, and as usual, it is not random.  This Gemini mos wants randomised order (see the Project Bohemia summer throw).

First off, I'm using all my summery yarn stash: Vinnis Nikkim/Bambi/Serina, I Love yarn - Imagine, Sublime Egyptian Cotton, Rico Baby Cotton, Unlabeled Yarn That I Can't Identify etc...

The base colour is Vinnis Bambi "Blue-Gray", which you'll see in every third row.  Now...

I started with Base.

Then

Warm - Neutral - Cool
Base
Cool - Navy - Warm
Base
Warm - Neutral - Cool
Base
Cool - Navy - Warm

...ad infinitum until The End.

(I might have switched some around resulting in Warm - Navy - Cool, but it's not the end of the world)

But...Red is obvious, so it must be balanced and every 8th row is thus Red.

Navy is also semi-obvious and therefor every 8th row...balancing with the Neutral, you see :-)

And although Yellow is not strictly every 8th, it is more or less.

I'm not losing my mind, I'm keeping it together and furiously counting rows and colours!  And the randomness will be balanced and keep my colour-OCDness happy. 

Off I go, I hear a cocktail being mixed in the kitchen ;-)